What does everybody in Federal IT want for Christmas?  Yes, you guessed it, a new Federal CIO.  Santa’s elves have been chattering, and we understand that Suzette Kent will soon be named to the top job in Federal IT. With the passage of the MGT Act and FITARA grades slip sliding, folks have been calling for a new executive to get to grips with the change agenda.     […]

In a report released on Dec. 7, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that while Veterans Affairs (VA) has made some progress on key IT initiatives under Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) requirements, it has nonetheless fallen short of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) targets regarding consolidating and optimizing its data centers. […]

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke frankly about the need IT modernization in the State Department last week, both referencing his personal experiences with the department’s servers and tying it into a larger need for reorganization in the department, but failing to lay out any concrete plan for the changes. […]

Yesterday’s release of the FITARA Scorecard 5.0 did not look promising for Federal agencies. In today’s Oversight and Government Reform IT Subcommittee FITARA hearing, the committee shared their concerns and sought answers from agency officials testifying. […]

With $5 billion in global revenue, Symantec is the 500 pound yellow gorilla in the cybersecurity business. Some dimensions on the beast: installed at every Federal cabinet-level agency; supports 350,000 customers; tracks 700,000 hackers; and leverages more than nine trillion elements of security data. Now, that’s a big monkey. […]

As Federal CIOs brace for tomorrow’s Oversight and Government Reform IT Subcommittee FITARA hearing, it’s not great news on the fifth FITARA report card.  […]

The Inspector General of the Small Business Administration (SBA) found that the agency’s IT leadership needs to address the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) and cybersecurity threats. […]

Federal agencies are refocusing their IT efforts in order to look at problems from an enterprise perspective rather than by individual bureau. “When you’re looking at the bureau you have money kind of stuck and stovepiped in that level,” said Melonie Parker-Hill, division chief of the enterprise operations center at the State Department. […]

A bipartisan group of senators proposed legislation to extend certain provisions in the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act. The extension would add two years to agencies’ data center consolidation efforts. The bill is the same as the FITARA Extension amendment that was adopted by the House of Representatives in July. […]

Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, said that he plans to track the IT modernization working capital fund, which will come from his Modernization Government Technology Act, on the FITARA scorecard. […]

The Government Accountability Office found that of the 24 agencies required to participate in the Data Center Optimization Initiative, 22 said they were making limited progress toward the 2018 performance targets. […]

Congress will likely be putting bipartisan pressure on the White House to fill critical IT positions in Federal agencies and prioritize modernization efforts, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., predicted at the ServiceNow Town Hall. […]

The House of Representatives adopted Rep. Gerry Connolly’s, D-Va., amendment to extend certain provisions of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act. The FITARA Extension amendment continues three provisions that were set to expire over the past couple of years: Federal data center consolidation, transparency and risk management of major IT systems, and IT portfolio, program, and resource reviews. […]

A firm understanding of grading mechanisms and reporting practices is the way to success, according to an official from the United States Agency for International Development, the first agency to ever receive an A on the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act scorecard. […]

As the needs of Federal employees push agencies to move more and more services to the cloud, join MeriTalk and Government Acquisitions Inc. for the Federal Focus: The Cloud Generation event on July 12 at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., to discuss the best practices and results of Federal cloud migration. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., co-author of FITARA and IT reform advocate, will keynote the lunch session at the event. […]

Acting agency CIOs are keeping pace with their permanent counterparts, the latest Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act scorecard indicates. […]

To protect the nation’s digital infrastructure, Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, said it’s important to empower agency leadership and expand information sharing between the Federal government and other entities. […]

Four Federal agencies wishing to discuss their overall grades on the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act scorecard called the Government Accountability Office the morning of June 13, just hours after the scorecard was released. […]

The United States Agency for International Development became the first agency to receive an A on the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act scorecard on June 13. However, the scorecard reveals an overall decline in agencies’ performances. […]

Congress will be busy with future tech initiatives and members have high hopes for the potential of current programs, according to two congressmen who spoke June 7 at MeriTalk’s Cloud Computing Brainstorm. Congressional IT leaders Reps. Will Hurd, R-Texas, and Gerry Connolly, D-Va., talked about the future of major IT initiatives such as FedRAMP, the Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act, FITARA, and executive leadership, offering insight into the shape of IT developments in the coming months. […]

Nine of the 24 agencies evaluated under the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act are currently guided by acting chief information officers, raising the question of whether IT modernization efforts will be stalled. […]

The Department of Health and Human Services created an agencywide Integrated Project Team to meet the criteria outlined in the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act. […]

The Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act scorecard should be embellished with yet another column indicating whether agencies have set up the rotating capital fund outlined in the Modernizing Government Technology Act, according to Karen Evans, national director for U.S. Cyber Challenge’s Center for Internet Security. […]

Although the Small Business Administration’s modernization efforts are well underway, they may not be reflected on the upcoming Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act scorecard, according to Maria Roat, the agency’s chief information officer. […]

Government is slowly working to modernize its legacy IT systems, with help from policies like FITARA and the Modernizing Government Technology Act, but government should consider the implications of leaving the IT business to the private sector, according to Roger Baker, former chief information officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs. […]

The Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act could go the way of the Clinger-Cohen Act, according to some IT experts who attended a forum hosted by the Government Accountability Office. […]

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will probably make the 2018 deadline to optimize its data centers, according to Karen Petraska, program executive for computing services at NASA. […]

More than two years after Congress passed the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act—the biggest overhaul of Federal IT acquisition in decades—most Federal chief information officers say they still don’t have the authority necessary to manage technology throughout their agencies. […]

Civil servants who create complex regulations are often their own worst enemy, according to Joe Paiva, chief information officer of the International Trade Administration. […]